Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Jannopoulos.
Hi Heather, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My journey into web design actually started long before high-speed internet even existed. In the 1990s, my grandmother was a graphic and web designer in Hawaii back in the days of dial-up. I always saw myself as a creative type and loved computers, so by the time I hit high school in the late 90’s, my absolute favorite class was graphic design with Ms. Sandy Furakawa at Arroyo Grande High School.
However, life took me on a wonderfully scenic, entrepreneurial route before I officially claimed this career. My family owned movie theatres, including the historic Bay Theatre in Morro Bay, so I spent plenty of time working there. I also spent 15 years waitressing and bartending at Scotty’s Bar and Grill in Pismo Beach. Along the way, I wore many different hats: I co-owned a music production company, became a cosmetologist, and owned a hair salon in Grover Beach.
A few years later, after a divorce and selling my salon, I decided it was time for a major life pivot. I packed up and moved to Oahu, Hawaii, living everywhere from the East Side to Makaha on the West Side. While making plans to eventually return to the Central Coast, I knew I wanted a new professional path out of the restaurant and bar management industry. I came right back to my original passion: web design.
I went back to school and graduated with my Associate’s Degree from Laurus College in 2017. Right before graduating, I landed a life-changing internship turned permanent job with Tina Barnard at CenCal Web Design in Santa Maria. For years, I commuted between jobs, working with Tina part-time and continuing to help manage the Bay Theatre back home in Morro Bay.
When the Bay Theatre was sold in 2023, it felt like the universe giving me the ultimate green light to fully branch out on my own. I launched New Horizons Web Design, named as a tribute to my father’s 1980s construction company, New Horizons Construction and Development, which he started in the Five Cities area. I even use his original company logo as a nod to that family legacy.
Today, I still collaborate with Tina, at YourBiz Web Design (formally CenCal Web Design, having worked on over 100 websites together, alongside building a few dozen independent sites of my own and providing full hosting services. It took a lot of twists, turns, and hard work to get here, but I love providing clear, beautiful digital spaces for the businesses right here in our community.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth, linear road, but I think the twists and turns are what gave me the grit to run a business today. One of the biggest hurdles was the sheer exhaustion of reinventing my career later in life. Stepping away from the comfort zone of a 15-year bartending career to go back to school was terrifying.
Once I got into the field, the challenge became a massive juggling act. For a long time, I was living on caffine and adrenaline. I was commuting from Arroyo Grande to Santa Maria for my job with Tina, while simultaneously working at my family’s theatre in Morro Bay, all while trying to build up my own client base. Balancing multiple jobs, relationships, cross-ocean moves, and a heavy commute across the Central Coast was incredibly demanding.
Then came 2023, which brought a different kind of challenge. When the Bay Theatre sold, it was the bittersweet end of a long family era. It forced me to completely take off the safety net. Transitioning from working under someone else to launching New Horizons Web Design meant I was suddenly responsible for everything, not just the creative design, but the tech support, the server hosting, the accounting, and marketing myself. Overcoming that imposter syndrome and learning to trust my own decade of experience was a hurdle in itself. But looking back, every single crazy shift and busy year prepared me perfectly for the horizon I’m looking at now.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
New Horizons Web Design is a full-service digital agency built specifically to serve the small businesses, artists, and independent creators of the Central Coast. I specialize in custom website design, search engine optimization (SEO), and secure, reliable website hosting. Essentially, I create beautiful online storefronts and digital homes, and then I keep the lights on and the security tight so my clients can focus on doing what they love.
What sets me apart from standard web agencies is the unique blend of deep technical experience and decades of real-world customer service. Having worked on over 100 websites throughout my career, I have the technical know-how to handle complex projects. But because of my 15 years as a bartender at Scotty’s in Pismo and my time running a hair salon, I speak ‘human,’ not just tech jargon. I know how to sit down, truly listen to a client’s vision, and translate it onto the screen without making them feel overwhelmed by code and servers.
Brand-wise, I am most proud of my company’s name and logo. I named the business after my father’s company, New Horizons Construction and Development, which he started right here in the Five Cities area back in the early 1980s. I still use his original company logo today. For me, it represents a continuation of a family legacy of building things that last for our community, he built physical structures, and now I build digital ones.
I want readers to know that New Horizons Web Design isn’t a faceless corporate entity or an automated template generator. When you work with me, you get a dedicated, long-term digital partner who is genuinely rooting for your success. Whether you need a brand-new website from scratch, a refresh of an outdated site, or a reliable place to host your existing platform, I’m here to give your business the beautiful digital horizon it deserves.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
If you had asked me years ago if I considered myself a textbook ‘risk-taker,’ I probably would have said no, I hate change. But looking back at the map of my life, I realize I’ve taken some massive, terrifying leaps. My perspective on risk has completely evolved: I don’t view risk as jumping blindly into the dark; I view it as a necessary bet on your own resilience. To me, the greatest risk is actually staying stagnant in a life or a career that no longer fits you just because it feels safe.
I’ve taken three major risks that completely shaped who I am today:
The Mid-Career Pivot: Stepping away from the absolute certainty and comfort of a 15-year bartending career at Scotty’s and various bars on Oahu, to go back to school at Laurus College for web design was a huge gamble. I was completely changing my life’s direction later than most people do, entering a technical field that was a world away from restaurant management.
The Cross-Ocean Move: After selling my hair salon and going through a divorce, I packed up my life and moved to Oahu, Hawaii. I didn’t have a perfectly mapped-out blueprint, but I knew I needed a shift. Living on the East Side and then the West Side (Makaha/Waianae) for two and a half years taught me that I could drop into an entirely new environment and not just survive, but thrive.
Taking Off the Safety Net: In 2023, when my family’s historic Bay Theatre sold, the last of my traditional safety nets disappeared. Branching out to officially open New Horizons Web Design was the ultimate entrepreneurial risk. Suddenly, there was no corporate backing or family business to lean on, it was entirely up to me to find clients, manage servers, and deliver results.
When I think about risk now, I think about my dad’s old construction company name that I adopted: New Horizons. You can’t ever see a new horizon if you stay parked in the exact same harbor. Every risk I took forced me to grow, adapt, and realize that even if a plan flakes out or a pivot is painful, I have the grit to figure it out. Taking risks is how we build the lives we actually want to live.
Pricing:
- My pricing is listed on https://newhorizonswebdesign.com/
Contact Info:
- Website: https://newhorizonswebdesign.com/
- Other: info@newhorizonswebdesign.com
